NRE, NRO and FCNR(B) cover almost every individual. The deposit rules also carry a handful of accounts for narrower situations — a business with Indian contracts, a share purchase held in escrow, a foreign national on a short visit — and it is worth knowing they exist before a bank tells you something is impossible.
SNRR — the business account
A person resident outside India with a business interest in India may open a Special Non-Resident Rupee account with an authorised dealer, to put through permissible current and capital account transactions in rupees. It carries no interest, its debits and credits must be specific to that business, and its life is tied to the contract or the period of operation behind it. That is the difference from an NRO account, which bears interest and has no such tenure limit.
Escrow — for a deal, not for savings
Resident and non-resident acquirers may open a rupee escrow account with an authorised dealer bank acting as escrow agent, for the acquisition or transfer of capital instruments or convertible notes. It sits under the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019 and Schedule 5 of the Deposit Regulations — a deal account, opened for a transaction and closed after it.
A foreign national visiting India
A foreign national of non-Indian origin visiting India can open an NRO current or savings account, funded by money remitted from outside India or by selling foreign exchange brought in. The balance may be paid out when they leave, provided the account is not older than six months and has taken no local credits other than the interest on it.
The special cases
- Nepal and Bhutan. Persons resident there can open Indian rupee accounts with an authorised dealer in India.
- Pakistan and Bangladesh. Individuals and entities of Pakistan nationality or ownership, and entities of Bangladesh ownership, need the prior approval of the Reserve Bank. An individual of Bangladesh nationality may open an NRO account holding a valid visa and a valid residential permit from the FRO or FRRO.
- Long Term Visa holders. Citizens of Bangladesh or Pakistan from minority communities there — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians — residing in India with an LTV, or an LTV application pending, may open one NRO account with an authorised dealer bank.
- Post offices. Post offices in India may keep savings accounts for persons resident outside India, on the same terms as an NRO account with a bank.
- FPIs and FVCIs. Registered with SEBI, they may hold a non-interest bearing foreign currency account for making investments.
One more place allows accounts that are none of these. GIFT IFSC sits in Gandhinagar, but under FEMA a banking unit there is treated as resident outside India — so its accounts are held in foreign currency, not rupees.
GIFT City: what it offers an NRI
- An SNRR account earns nothing — it is a settlement account, not a place to park money.
- Escrow here means capital instruments, not a general-purpose holding account.
- Where the rule says "prior approval of the Reserve Bank", no branch can waive it.
Source: Reserve Bank of India, FAQ Accounts in India by Non-residents, as on 16 January 2025 — read alongside the Foreign Exchange Management (Deposit) Regulations, 2016 and the Master Direction on Deposits and Accounts. Checked 16 September 2026.